Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-08-11
tho.ghe FOLLY, and then was ashamed

was mOOreQ, ROXY neS1taCeU uttIe
you can come aboard, if you like"
she said; but Tad. who noticed her al
most imperceptible change of manner
| without being able to account for it,
shook his head.
"Oh, no, miss; don't look fit" he
replied, with glance at his shabby
clothes and patched shoes, that was pa
| thetic. II come down here" he con-
tinued, simply, because there wasn't
| any other place where I could set down
| and look over the papers good-morn-
ing, MISS" and before Polly could re-
ply Tad was gone
CHAPTER ".
Just astern of the Mary j." large
iron steamer was dis, harging her cargo
! which were TERED UP one upon an
other, at the verge of the wharf.
Looking about him to make sure
that he was unobserved, Tad scram-
bled up the back side of the tier,
and, crawling nimbly over the top,
| dropped into narrow niche between
| two of the bales, where, we'll sheltered
from the wind, and warmed by the sun,
| he found that without being seen
he could look directly down upon the
MARY J. 81 deck.
Polly Flagg had thrown aside her
ugly head-gear, and, using the end of
vigorously scrubbing the small dog,
who feebly protested, in a bucket of
| warm water furnished by the cook-a
| diminutive colored man with very
round shoulders, and woody locks plen-
tifully powdered with gray.
There, little dog" said Polly, as
she rubbed the whimpering pup with a
bit of an old sail-cloth, ''yOu were new
er so clean in your life before. Now,
George Washington addressing the
colored individual him and lay
him in the galley, by the fire. till he's
dry"
"'Pears though he orter be c'nsider-
ably refrigerated by his absolution,
Miss Polly" returned Washington,
with convulsive giggle, as, receiving
the snail bundle, he hurried back to
the galley, which was sort of large
.'cubby-house," midway between the
| two masts, where the cooking was
| done.
Meanwhile, Polly unpinned her dress,
which she hSd carefully turned up in
front during the washing, pulled down
her sleeves and, without resuming the
big sun-bonnet, walked to the rail,
where she stood looking up the wharf
| in an eXpectant attitude.
''She isn't exactly stylish-lookin',
| said Tad, viewing Miss Polly critically,
from his point of observation, "but she's
got goodish kind of face"
No-Polly was not stylish-looking.
Her cheeks were as rosy and round as
a Baldwin apple, and her small nose
not innocent of freckles. Then, too,
her mouth was rather large, though one
forgot its size in the kindliness of her
smile, which, moreover, showed a very
perfect set of small, even, white teeth.
Polly had pair of pleasant dark eyes
that, when she was bit excited, looked
almost black, and she was also the pos
SCISSOR of what the novelists call ga
wealth" of bronze-tinted chestnut hair,
with natural crinkle in it, which no
amount of art could have initiated. But
Polly briefly summed up her own per-
sonal appearance in one terse sentence
''red hair, freckles and snub-nose;''
and no amount of reasoning could con-
vince her she was not undeniably plain,
or-as she unhesitatingly affirmed
lawful homely."
II don't believe it's polite to stare at
ladies, even if they can't see you," sud-
denly thought Tad. And vaguely Won
dering at his own newly-awakened
sense of propriety, Tad settled back in
his coy nook and, pulling out his three
papers, began running over the "Lost"
columns, but his search was in vain.
Watches had been lost, diamonds
stolen. gold-headed canes taken by mis-
take and pet poodles lured from their
homes-for the recovery of each and all
of which rewards were offered. with the
suggestive mo questions asked" as an
extra inducement for their return.
But there was no reference in any of
the papers to ''a small alligator-skin
sachcl, with nickel mountings, left by
mistake in the waiting-room of the
Broad Street depot" or words to that
effect; and Tad began to wonder what
vertise under the head Of Found, " for
five cents was all the money Tad had
in the world; SO, finally, he was forced
to the conclusion that all he could do
was-to use his own unspoken thought |
Ito hang on spell longer"
1t was much harder to decide what !
he should do with himself. The bag |
had some one to look out for it, but |
there was no one to look out for Tad. |
And, for the first time in his short life,
Tad felt a feeling of something like |
homeSickneSS Green nYer him